


Non-Endings

by parttimehuman



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Bookworm Liam, Domestic, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 18:01:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15801735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parttimehuman/pseuds/parttimehuman
Summary: Liam has just finished reading a book, Theo welcomes him back home in his arms as he returns to reality.





	Non-Endings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GlitterCake20](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlitterCake20/gifts).



> This is my way of processing the fact that Desolate is now completed. I still don't think I'm over it.

“Oh. My. God.” Liam whispers as he slowly lets the book drop in his lap, shutting it closed, letting his hand rest on its back. 

 

He’s sitting in his corner of their bed, all of their pillows except the small one Theo needs to sleep in his back, his legs stretched out and draped over Theo’s lap. Dressed in a cozy hoodie that somehow makes him look tiny, his hair messed up from all the times he’s run his fingers through it, his face damp behind the pair of glasses, Liam is once again returning from the world between the pages to reality. Theo rubs his feet and looks up from his phone. 

 

“Was it good?” he asks with a smile.

 

He knows the answer already, knows that his boyfriend never reads a story to its end unless he’s completely in love with it. Also, he’s very seldomly seen Liam cry while reading. It’s not like he’s sitting there in his corner wailing, but for the last few hours he’s been so captured by the words in front of him that all Theo has been hearing are occasional little gasps and sniffles. 

 

“Oh, Theo,” Liam sighs, “it was beautiful.”

 

Liam pauses as he looks at him through the thick glasses, looking like he’s just run a marathon when he’s really been in bed the whole time, but although he still can’t be bothered to pick a book up himself, Theo knows how this thing where Liam reads works by now. 

 

Liam doesn’t read for fun or out of boredom. He’s also not the kind of guy for one little chapter in bed at night. When Liam sits down with a book, he’s ready to let it consume him, to be dragged into the universe living inside it. After the first fifty pages, Liam either gives it up with an adorable pout, or he’s so caught in his fantasy that he doesn’t hear Theo talking anymore. 

 

Theo loves it. He loves watching it, loves being the one Liam talks to after finishing another story, when the emotions it’s brought him are still written all over his face. He loves the little nose-exhales Liam makes instead of laughing when he comes across a funny part, or the way he smiles when he finds something particularly beautiful. Don’t get him wrong, Liam’s smile has always been one of the main reasons why Theo is in love with him, but the one that’s beamed into an open book is special, since Liam is most likely not even aware that he’s smiling. It’s genuine and pure, not made for anybody else to see or smile along, just for himself.  

 

It doesn’t happen often that Liam cries, but it happens. Sometimes, he can tell by the way Liam holds his breath or pulls the hood of his sweater over his head that a story gets to him more than others. One time, he held Liam in his arms for almost an hour while the other boy was bawling his eyes out, shaking in his lap until he was ready to pick the book back up and finish reading. 

 

Theo doesn’t know the experience, and he’s never felt like he needs to, but he loves that Liam does. He loves the raw emotion, and the freed look Liam has on his face once he’s done talking about it. He can tell exactly that Liam has feelings about his latest obsession, an awe-inspiringly thick novel he’s only needed one entire weekend hidden away in their bedroom to get lost in. Theo can see the thoughts about it forming and shaping behind Liam’s forehead, being put in order. He knows they’re about to spill and fall from Liam’s lips in a rambled chaos of words he won’t stand a chance to follow.

 

It’s okay, though. Theo doesn’t need to understand everything. He only needs to understand Liam. 

 

Liam’s fingers are running over the closed pages as he speaks. 

 

“At the beginning I thought it was just going to hurt. Like there was this guy, and what had happened to him was a tragedy, and he wasn’t getting over it, wasn’t even trying to deal with it, and it was just… He was just lonely, you know? And he was hiding away from the person he loved but that person found him, and then it got so much more tragic, and suddenly there was so much pain and so many old wounds that should have healed somewhere along those two years that they’d been apart, but oh god, nothing was okay when they met, and for a moment I was sure it could only end badly.” 

 

Theo smiles. Watching single tears dropping from Liam’s chin while he’s gesturing with his hands and arms and entire body, listening to his hoarse voice, Theo is falling in love again. 

 

“And did it?” he wants to know. “Did it end badly?”

 

Liam shakes his head, the corner of his mouth perking up. “Not at all. There’s a journey. There’s a little lesson learned every day that they spend together, things that need to be shared in a life that’s so simple that it would be desolate if they didn’t have each other. They fall apart, both of them. It hurts, and it scares the shit out of them, but then they realize that the other one has long started putting their shreds and pieces back together.” 

 

“So they kill their demons?” Theo asks, drawing circles into the skin over Liam’s knee. 

 

“No,” Liam answers, “they leave them behind in a storm.” 

 

“And return home?” 

 

“They’re already home.” 

 

“Sounds like a beautiful ending,” Theo smiles. 

 

“I don’t know,” Liam sniffles, wiping away a few tears, putting the book on his nightstand carefully before he comes snuggling up against Theo’s side, pulling the blanket over them both. “It’s not really an ending, but maybe that’s why I like it so much. Maybe the non-endings are the only truly happy ones. Who knows where they’re going, or the detour they might make? Who knows what awaits them? Who knows how much the world they once came from has changed in the meantime?” 

 

“It’s not really about that, I guess,” Theo replies. “As long as they have each other.” 

 

“Yeah,” Liam sighs, placing a kiss on Theo’s cheek before letting his head rest on his shoulder, taking off his glasses and closing his puffy eyes. “As long as they have each other.” 

 

Theo tightens his hold around Liam’s shoulder and kisses the top of his head. He knows they’re not done discussing it, that Liam will be carrying the book around for a few more days, that he’s memorized the pages with his favorite lines and the most important scenes. Every book the boy reads makes him a little more Liam. Every story stays with him, stays on his mind or under his skin or right inside his heart. 

 

“I love you so much,” Theo whispers into Liam’s hair, getting no reply other than a faint snoring sound. 


End file.
